The ability to control the dissolution of a down hole well component in a variety of solutions is very important to the utilization of non-drillable completion tools, such as sleeves, frac balls, hydraulic actuating tooling, and the like. Reactive materials for this application, which dissolve or corrode when exposed to acid, salt, and/or other wellbore conditions, have been proposed for some time. Generally, these components consist of materials that are engineered to dissolve or corrode. Dissolving polymers and some powder metallurgy metals have been disclosed, and are also used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry for controlled release of drugs. Also, some medical devices have been formed of metals or polymers that dissolve in the body.
While the prior art well drill components have enjoyed modest success in reducing well completion costs, their consistency and ability to specifically control dissolution rates in specific solutions, as well as other drawbacks such as limited strength and poor reliability, have impacted their ubiquitous adoption. Ideally, these components would be manufactured by a process that is low cost, scalable, and produces a controlled corrosion rate having similar or increased strength as compared to traditional engineering alloys such as aluminum, magnesium, and iron. Ideally, traditional heat treatments, deformation processing, and machining techniques could be used on the components without impacting the dissolution rate and reliability of such components.